


Dauntless

by star_child



Series: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Divergent, M/M, You're Welcome, fighting lessons from star, i didn't feel like explaining the whole concept, i kind of lost the plot to this sorry, i'm trying to get used to them, like the book series, side kagehina, you kind of need to know how they work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 10:36:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9067972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/star_child/pseuds/star_child
Summary: (DAWNT-less)adjectiveinvulnerable to fear or intimidation





	

**Author's Note:**

> SIGH divergent au  
> tetsu means iron

The Dauntless compound is nothing like what he’s used to. Instead of sprawling orchards with warm breezes and the rustle of leaves, he and the others run through stone tunnels as water drips from the ceiling. Instead of lying on his back in the grass, staring up at the clouds as they blow slowly across the sky, he stands beside the roaring waterfall in an underground cave, watching the native Dauntless children race each other down the paths.

Instead of falling asleep in his childhood bed, listening to his parents talk in their room and his older sisters laughing down the hall with their friends, he lies awake in the initiate transfer dorm, listening to the snores of the other sixteen year olds and the clock that tells him how dangerously close to morning it’s getting.

Sometimes he’s beyond relieved that he left the Amity orchards, that he will never again have to wear red and yellow and be expected to share his feelings and talk to others.

Sometimes his heart aches so hard for his parents and sisters and the familiarity that it’s all he can do to remain standing and not curl into a ball, lest he be thought weak by the other initiates and his trainers.

His first week is not going as well as he’d hoped.

* * *

“Amity!” someone barks.

Kenma cringes, dropping his fists and stepping away from the hardly swinging heavy bag, waiting for the scolding sure to come from either one trainer or the other.

A hand slaps down on his shoulder, and just as he’s expecting to hear Daishou’s sneaky, arrogant voice scold him for whatever the hell he did wrong, someone much taller walks around in front of him.

He slowly raises his head from the black boots, past the rumpled black jeans, over the black bomber jacket and t shirt, to look into the fiery gold eyes of their primary trainer, a man known to them only as Tetsu. _Iron_.

“You’re doing it wrong again,” he says, voice flat.

Kenma grits his teeth, biting back a snappy reply. Instead he replies, “I forget how.”

Tetsu drops his hand from Kenma’s shoulder, moving to stand beside him and shifting into a fighting stance. “Watch what I do,” he says. He wiggles the left foot, the one in front, then the right, the one in back. “You’re right handed, aren’t you? You want your dominant foot in back.” He sends a pointed glance down at Kenma’s feet, centered below his hips, neither one in front or back.

Kenma flushes, fixes his feet.

“Crouch.”

He crouches.

“Now in a neutral stance, you keep your fists where?” Tetsu’s fists are hanging down in front of his chest, but Kenma feels as though this isn’t right. He told them all yesterday, demonstrated the right stance and how to throw a jab and a cross, but Kenma was running on less than an hour of sleep, could hardly stand still without swaying on his feet, let alone pay attention to the lesson.

“You keep them… ah… by your face?” he tries. It’s a shot in the dark, but it makes enough sense to him. Protect your face.

Tetsu nods his head to the side. “Close, I’ll take it. Technically by your temples. Here.” He raises both fists to the sides of his head, blocking their view of each other. “They can be in front of your face if you want, anywhere around your head will work really. But one hand should always be here.” He shakes his fists to reiterate, then drops his hands and stands up straight. “Let’s see it.”

Kenma drops to a crouch again, facing the heavy bag with his fists by his temples.

“Good. Throw a jab.”

He throws his left fist straight out, so his elbow snaps at full extension.

Tetsu sighs, shakes his head. “Were you even _here_ yesterday? I explained all of this.” He drops to a fighting stance again, and just as he opens his mouth, Daishou appears behind him.

“Already picking favorites, are we Tetsu?” he grins. He appears friendly enough at a glance, but even in his fatigued state Kenma notices the way his eyes sharpen as they dart around the room, between the two of them, always looking for an angle. His smile is venomous, white teeth glinting as though he’s about to attack. He’s the kind of Dauntless his parents always told him to stay away from.

The taller man turns his head with a glare as he straightens, though Kenma saw the subtle jump of his shoulders. “I’m helping him with his form, do you mind?” His tone is almost hostile, thinly veiled with the respect he’s supposed to hold for his partner.

Daishou waves his hand dismissively. “Oh, no, of course not,” he says, completely casual despite Tetsu sounding like he wants to attack him. “I’m just saying, don’t you think you should focus on some of the other initiates?” He gestures out toward the rest of the gym, where the other twelve or so kids are dutifully attacking their bags, all of them with near perfect form.

“No, I don’t,” Tetsu says flatly. “Besides, if someone’s struggling so much why don’t _you_ go help them?”

For some reason this earns him a glare from Daishou, and he stalks off to monitor the others.

Tetsu glares after him for a moment before flipping him off to his back, then turns back to Kenma. “Listen, I’m gonna be here after dinner tonight, if you want to train for a little while with me I’ll help you more with your form. Sound like a plan?”

Kenma nods, ignores the flutter his heart does and mumbles back, “Sounds like a plan.”

* * *

The sound of Kenma’s dragging footsteps echoes off the walls of the tunnel. Two of the other transfers got into an argument in the dorm room, so he’s off in search of somewhere quiet to go. He considered the training room, and the cafeteria, but both were bound to have at least a few people in them, and he doesn’t want to deal with socializing. If he’s going to be living in the compound after initiation, he should learn all the tunnels anyway. The sooner the Better.

Suddenly light, quick running footsteps fill the tunnel, coming from somewhere behind him.

Kenma whips around at once, fists clenching but not coming up fast enough to stop whoever it is from barreling straight into him. They start to tip, but Kenma manages to twist them in midair – something he didn’t think he had the strength for – so he lands on top of his attacker, pinning them to the ground.

When his eyes focus, he’s staring down at Hinata, blinking back at him.

“ _Shit_ , Shouyou,” Kenma gasps, sitting back on Hinata’s knees and allowing him to sit up. The swear is new to him, doesn’t quite sit comfortably in his mouth yet and comes out with more emphasis than necessary. “You can’t do that to me.”

Slowly, Hinata grins. “Wow! I didn’t think an Amity could do that!” he cries, jumping to his feet after Kenma gets off him and stands.

Kenma glares. “I’m not an Amity. I’m a Dauntless. So are you, act like it,” he snaps. His body feels slow and heavy from his few hours of sleep, wound up and tense from training earlier, now made worse by the fact that he just nearly got jumped. Given Hinata is native Dauntless, but still. “Attacking someone from behind is cowardly.”

Hinata pouts. “I didn't _attack_ you. I just wanted to say hi! I got excited!”

Kenma rolls his eyes.

“Listen, anyway,” Hinata continues, “I'm meeting Kageyama in the pit soon, we’re gonna get _tattoos_!”

“You don’t already have some?” Kenma asks. Most of the native Dauntless initiates already look like full members, with crazy hairstyles or tattoos or piercings, sometimes all three. He supposes Hinata does already have several rings through his ears, and a small one through the side of his nose, as well as bright orange hair, but he expected at least a tattoo or two.

But Hinata shakes his head. “Not yet. My mom said I could get one when I was sure I was staying in Dauntless, since all the other factions kind of frown on them. Piercings can close and I can let my hair grow back normal, but tats are permanent, y’know?”

Kenma blinks. He can’t imagine Hinata in any faction but this one. But he’s already moved on, shouting about how Kenma should come with them and tugging him in the direction he was already going. He follows willingly, allowing himself to be swept up in Hinata’s enthusiasm. Perhaps he could have fit in with Amity, if he could tone down the reckless way he moved and eagerness to fight people.

They meet Kageyama in front of a well lit shop off one of the trails of the pit, about two floors up. He’s standing awkwardly to the side of the open storefront, hands in his pockets as he watches the people pass by.

“Kageyama!” Hinata shouts in greeting when they’re close enough, jumping and waving.

Kageyama pushes off the wall and comes over to stand in front of them, frowning down at Hinata. “You shouldn’t be so… reckless,” he scolds. “You’re gonna fall right off the path.”

Hinata waves a hand back and forth dismissively, seemingly uncaring that Kagayama is currently towering over both of them. Kenma tries not to shrink back. “Please, I grew up here! I could run these blindfolded!”

With a shake of his head, Kageyama steps back and turns toward the shop. “You’ll have to show me another time,” he says, sarcasm on the edges of his words. Hinata doesn’t pick up, bouncing after him happily and starting to chatter about types of tattoos.

* * *

Tetsu didn’t specify what time he would be in the gym after dinner, but Kenma can only stay in the dorm alone for half an hour before he’s too wound up to sit still anymore. He jumps off his bunk and gets lost only once on his way to the training room.

It’s empty when he gets there, so Kenma stretches a bit, then slips on a pair of boxing gloves he finds in the closet. He sets his feet in the stance Tetsu taught him earlier, tries his best to deliver a solid punch to the bag. He’s seen some of the other kids nearly knock the bag off with one hit – his hardly swings.

When he’s been at it for about ten minutes, the door opens, and he hears the slow, even steps of his trainer. “What’s that?” Tetsu asks as he approaches, nodding his chin toward the bandage that covers the back of Kenma’s right shoulder, extending out from his loose tank top. He can just see the corner of it if he tucks his chin over his shoulder to look backward.

Kenma steps back from his bag, frowning at it as he answers. “I got a tattoo.”

Tetsu raises one eyebrow. “Oh? Just now by yourself?”

He tries to think if he’s going to get in trouble for hanging out with Dauntless born initiates, before his slow muddled brain remembers that they’re allowed to do literally whatever they way in the afternoons and evenings. “No, I went earlier this afternoon, with Hinata. And Kageyama.” He thinks of the way Kageyama’s hands had clenched up as the artist worked on his tattoo, gritted his teeth against whatever sharp Candor comments threatened to burst out.

“What is it?”

Kenma blinks. “What?”

“The tattoo. What is it of?”

“Oh. Right.” He tries not to blush as his fingers reach for the bandage to show him, then remembers he’s not supposed to take it off for another few hours. And he’s still wearing boxing gloves, no less. “It’s still healing. But I’m… you know I’m from Amity, don’t you?” Tetsu nods. “Well… I know it’s supposed to be faction before blood but I… I don’t want to forget where I came from.” Kenma stares at the ground as he speaks, fingers flexing in their limited space inside the gloves. “It’s a stylized tree, for the symbol of Amity.”

Tetsu is silent, and after a moment Kenma glances up to see him considering the short boy in front of him. “Can I show you something?” he finally asks. Kenma nods, takes a small automatic step back when Tetsu begins to remove his shirt, of all things he could have done. He turns his back to Kenma, allowing him to see the ink that rises from the base of his spine to the top of his neck.

At the very bottom, small but still nearly the size of Kenma’s hand, sits the silhouette of a bonsai tree, gnarled and twisting. The symbol of Amity. Just above it, a bit bigger, are two clasped hands, positioned as though one is pulling the other to their feet. Abnegation. In the center of his back is a pair of scales, the symbol of Candor, one side tilted down more than the other.

The two between his shoulder blades are the biggest, roughly the same size. The bottom one is the eye of Erudite, half lidded as Tetsu’s usually are, but seeming to look right through Kenma despite being nothing more than ink below his skin. At the top sits the Dauntless flame, wild and intricate.

“I’m from Erudite, you know,” Tetsu says quietly after Kenma has spent some time studying his tattoos and _not_ the muscles they sit on top of.

That startles him from his inspection. “What?” he asks incredulously. “You’re not Dauntless born?”

Tetsu turns around, puts his shirt back on – much to Kenma’s both relief and disappointment. “No,” he says with a small laugh. “Did you think I was?”

“Well, yeah,” Kenma admits. “You train new initiates, the transfers who have to learn everything from scratch, how to fight and how to get around… It seems like you’ve been here your whole life.”

“Would you believe me if I told you it’s only been two years?”

Kenma tries to stop himself from gaping. “You – You’re only eighteen?” Tetsu gives a single nod of his head, a sly smirk playing about his lips. That means he’s only two years older than Kenma, which is both an alarming and comforting thought.

He pushes it from his mind, picturing the tattoos he can still see in his mind’s eye. “You’re a transfer,” he repeats, reverting to the earlier topic. Tetsu nods. “Erudite to Dauntless.” He nods again. “So why… Why the other three? You were never Candor, or Abnegation. You were _certainly_ never Amity.”

Tetsu smirks at him. “What’s that supposed to mean, huh?” he teases.

Kenma bites his tongue at once, and this time he knows he’s blushing.

But Tetsu only gives a little laugh. It does strange things to Kenma’s heart, but he chalks it up to the horrible sleeping pattern he’s developed.

“I get it,” he says, not unkindly. “I was smart enough to stay in Erudite, and I knew it, but that made me cocky. I was as rude as a Candor. I made friends with some Dauntless kids at school, they thought I was hot shit.” He tilts his head to the side for a moment, pauses to think. “Most of them, anyway.” Then he shrugs. “I thought their lives seemed pretty cool, coming from Dauntless, so I wanted to join. I wanted to… I needed to learn how to defend myself. And I wanted to teach other people.” He’s looking away now, toward the line of heavy bags down the wall, avoiding Kenma’s gaze.

Kenma blinks, processing the story. “That doesn’t explain the other three,” he says quietly after a moment. Tetsu still isn’t looking at him, but he lets out a sigh through his nose.

“I think…” He stops, glances around, shakes his head. Cracks his knuckles. “Do you mind if I help you with your form tomorrow?”

“What? I guess…” Kenma trails off, confused. Is Tetsu going to leave him without answering?

“Good.” He steps forward, and for a crazy moment Kenma is afraid he's going to attack him. But he just reaches forward to undo the velcro of Kenma's boxing gloves, slipping them off of his hands. Kenma flexes his fingers as Tetsu stoops for their bag, putting them away and tossing them toward a corner of the room. Then he beckons for Kenma to follow.

 

It hadn't occurred to him that Tetsu would live in an apartment. He knew of course, in the back of his mind, that he had to live _somewhere_ , that he doesn't just pop into existence in the training room and cafeterias, that he exists somewhere other than the computer rooms he's mentioned he works in.

But he’d never really imagined a defined living space, with an entry way and a kitchen, a living room and a bedroom, with a stove and a sink and a kotatsu, a bath and a futon and a fridge.

And that's about the extent of what Tetsu has in his apartment, aside from several other small details like food and clothes and a toilet. There are next to no personal items from what Kenma can see, and though he's not entirely sure what stance the Dauntless have on decorating, he doesn't think it's normal for things to be _this_ sparse. He's been in Hinata’s native initiate dorm, and even they had quickly transformed the place to make it theirs. At the very least, personal belongs cluttered their bunks.

Kenma shakes his head, reminds himself that he shouldn't even be focusing on what Tetsu’s living space looks like. He hovers awkwardly by the door as Tetsu heads for the kitchen. “Tea?” he asks.

Kenma catches sight of a small succulent plant on a windowsill, only a few inches tall with light purple leaves.

Tetsu glances up at him, and a crooked smirk takes over his face. “No need to be a stranger, Amity. You should be good at making yourself at home.” He gestures toward the open living room, and Kenma blushes as he makes his way to the kotatsu, sitting and looking around a little more.

There's a few photos taped to the wall across from him, he can see the same three people in varying ages and locations. Tetsu is in all of them, and in the first photo he looks young. Maybe fourteen or fifteen, he's dressed all in blue, hair combed but sticking to the sides of his face. Beside him is a boy with entirely white hair, sticking up in the air with a black t shirt on. They're both smiling wide, eyes nearly shut. Beside them stands another boy, a hint of a smile on his face with curly black hair and gray Abnegation robes. They appear to be in front of the school.

The next picture is the same three boys, slightly older and in front of the train tracks. Tetsu is still in a blue hoodie, but his jeans are black, his hair is longer and falling over one eye. His smile promises trouble. The other boy’s hair has started to show black roots, and there's a cuff through the cartilage of one ear. The Abnegation boy looks the same, though he's smiling a little more freely, standing closer to the other two.

The next features a Tetsu that looks more like the one Kenma knows. His hair looks like a bird’s nest, and he's dressed all in black. A silver ring sits in the side of his nose, just like Hinata’s. His friend has an arm thrown around both him and the third boy, who still bears Abnegation robes. They look the same.

The last photo is the most recent. All three of them wear all black, the waterfall in the pit raging behind them. The boy with white hair – now interspersed with streaks of purple – stands in the middle, arms around the other two’s waists. Tetsu and the former Abnegation boy have their free hands on their hips, the other in turn around the middle boy's waist. They face each other, but their heads are turned slightly toward the camera, their tongues sticking out. A silver stud is featured by the boy from Abnegation.

They were all from different factions, yet they grew up together, joined Dauntless and stayed friends. Kenma wishes he had friends like that, but he didn't know many people outside of Amity, or even within it. Just Lev, who he was a little too happy to leave behind. If he sticks by what he told Kenma in the weeks leading up to his choosing ceremony, he’ll be joining Candor next year anyway.

“Those are my friends,” Tetsu says after he comes over with two mugs of tea and sees Kenma staring at the photos. “That's Bokuto, the Dauntless, and Akaashi is the Abnegation.” He takes a sip of his tea, allowing Kenma to look over the pictures again, now assigning names to the other two faces.

“You all ended up together,” he comments, wrapping his fingers around the mug of tea Tetsu pushes toward him.

To his surprise, the trainer laughs. “Oh they certainly ended up together alright,” he chuckles. “Thought I'd grow old and die before they did, but I got a pretty rude surprise when I walked into Bo’s place a little after Akaashi’s induction.”

Kenma smiles at the thought, because at least he knows Tetsu won't hate him if he finds out he likes boys. “I think it's sweet,” he says softly, just to let Tetsu know that he doesn't mind either.

His trainer nods, leans back on one hand as he sips his tea. “Do you ever wonder about this?” he asks after a few moments of silence, “The faction system?” Kenma doesn't reply, because in all honesty no he hasn't, but the way he's asked makes it sound like he should. “Sometimes I wonder if we should really be split up like this.”

Kenma hesitates before asking, “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Tetsu sighs. “The Dauntless value bravery above all else, right? We believe cowardice makes people weak.” Kenma nods, unsure of what else to do. “And we believe we’re right. Obviously. Or else you and I wouldn't be here.”

“No,” Kenma agrees.

“But take the Amity. They value kindness. They think distrust and isolation makes people weak. And they think they're right.”

He nods again.

“The Candor believe in honesty, Abnegation in selflessness, Erudite in knowledge… And we all think the other factions are foolish for believing anything else.”

Kenma fidgets as Tetsu takes a drink of his tea, pinches the inside of his wrist to keep himself alert.

“I don't think,” Tetsu says slowly, “That this is how the world should work.”

He blinks, stares openly at his trainer.

“I don't mean like… I'm not saying down with the government or anything,” Tetsu laughs nervously. “Obviously. I just think… we should value all of it. I want to be brave, but I also want to be smart, and honest, and selfless, and kind.” He smiles at Kenma. “I guess you’ve noticed I'm still working on kind.”

Kenma nods slowly, forcing himself to process the words. A moving speech, if he's ever heard one. “I… I agree,” he says quietly. “My whole family was born and raised Amity. My older sisters, they were always so good at the whole… connecting thing. I was alright. But I like being alone, and I don't like lying or not knowing things, I want to be brave and I guess I'm still working on being selfless.”

Tetsu nods. “I get that. But that's why I have every faction on my back. I think we’re stronger together, y’know?”

Kenma nods. “I know.”

 

He gets back to the dorm later than he should. The hallways are dark, and he has to retrace his steps to the training room, then the pit, before he can find his way back to the transfer room.

He opens the door as quietly as possible, finding the lights already off. He tiptoes to his bunk, climbing up the ladder and collapsing on his side. He feels calm, relaxed enough to at least rest.

But with Kageyama’s soft snores issuing from below him, he nods off to sleep the earliest he has since he was back in Amity.

* * *

“Crouch.”

Kenma crouches.

“Lower.”

He shuffles his feet apart, drops down lower.

“Good. Now listen, when you throw a punch, you want to load it. This gives it more power, and if you get good enough to read your opponent, it gives you a heads up on what they might do.”

Kenma nods, brings his fists up by his temples to mirror Tetsu, standing directly across from him.

“So you want to turn your body in the direction of how you're going to attack. If you're going to throw a jab, you load it by turning to the left, drawing your left arm a little bit back. Try it.”

He turns his body a little to the left, dropping his fist and pulling it back to attack.

Tetsu hits him lightly on the cheek. “Wrong.” Kenma drops his fists with a huff. “If you draw it too far away, you open up for a hit. Don't let your fist leave your face until you're throwing it. Try again.”

Again Kenma turns to the left, but keeps his arm where it is. On the turn back, he throws his left fist out, stopping before he can actually punch his trainer in the face.

“Good, that was good. Thank you for not punching me.” He smirks, and Kenma finds himself smiling back. “That's what you want to do actually. Don't stand so you're going to have to fully extend your arm in order to actually hit your opponent. You don't want to hit them and then stop, right?” Kenma nods. “You want to make contact –” Tetsu smacks his fist into his hand, “– and then keep going.” He pushes his fist deeper into his hand, moving it sideways with the force. “Get it?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Try it on the bag. I'm gonna see how everyone else is doing.”

Kenma watches his back as he walks away, imagining he can see through the fabric of his shirt to the line of Faction symbols that runs up his spine. He’s too busy staring to notice Daishou approaching.

“Got ourselves a little _crush_ , do we?” he hisses in Kenma’s ear.

He whips around, glaring at the man squinting back at him. “No,” Kenma bites, straightening and shuffling a step back automatically. He doesn’t offer a defense.

“A bit of a teacher’s pet then? Hm? That’s cute. I wonder what the Director would think of a student spending the night with a trainer.” There’s a gleam in Daishou’s eye that says he thinks he has them, though Kenma really isn’t sure there are _any_ rules set in place in Dauntless that he could go around breaking.

But he’s in luck. If what Daishou is implying _is_ a rule, then he certainly didn’t break it. “I didn’t spend the night,” he says, trying to rein in his annoyance. “We talked for a while and I went back to the dorm.”

Daishou leans closer, breath fanning over Kenma’s face. “Oh? What did you talk about for so long, hmm?”

Kenma leans back reflexively, face slowly twisting into a sneer. “Normal stuff. Stuff you talk about with your friends.” A Dauntless bite overtakes his usual Amity softness. “I suppose you wouldn’t know, would you?”

Daishou actually bares his teeth, and in an instant Kenma raises his hands and pushes him away by the chest.

“Don’t try to accuse me of things,” he says quietly. “Leave me alone.”

The glare Daishou gives him could spoil milk, but he straightens, turns on his heel, and stomps away. When Kenma glances out at the rest of the training room, he’s meet with the eyes of every other transfer, openly staring at him. Even Tetsu, standing by Kageyama, has nothing to say.

He blushes, drops his head so his hair obscures his face, and suddenly Tetsu claps his hands. “Back to work, all of you!” he shouts, and the room is immediately full of the sound of punches and kicks landing on the bags. Kenma drops back to his fighting stance, willing away tears of embarrassment and frustration. He throws a single punch before Tetsu’s hand lands on his shoulder.

“What?” Kenma spits.

Tetsu holds both hands up in surrender. “Whoa, sorry. Just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine.” He starts throwing more punches, just to distract himself.

“Do you want –”

“Please don’t talk to me for a while,” he rushes out in a single breath. He continues attacking the bag, doesn’t look over as Tetsu nods, takes a few steps back before turning and walking away.


End file.
